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Place dossier plate
SheetNM-MESILLA-NM · Mesilla, NM 1,850 pop · income 55th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Mesilla
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mesilla on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Westville · lowest
40,156
Westville · lowest
40,156 median HH income
20.5% of the leader · rank #1
Weaverville · near
73,670
Weaverville · near
73,670 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #2
South Mills · near
73,676
South Mills · near
73,676 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #3
Newton · near
73,679
Newton · near
73,679 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #4
Mesilla · this city
73,681
Mesilla · this city
73,681 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #5
Bath · near
73,681
Bath · near
73,681 median HH income
37.6% of the leader · rank #6
Las Campanas · highest
196,023
Las Campanas · highest
196,023 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Mesilla on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 1,850.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Mesilla lands in the 55th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
55th
percentile, household income
65th
percentile, home value
39th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Mesilla, NM
1,850 people live in Mesilla, New Mexico - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $73,681 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 1.7%. Typical homes in Mesilla are valued around $296,200, and the median resident age is 55.1 years. 46.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 47.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in New Mexico run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, New Mexico scores 92.2 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,129 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts New Mexico's average monthly utility costs around $167 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 58.9 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Mesilla's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mesilla, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Mesilla growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +15 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.8% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 46.7% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
How far does income reach against housing in Mesilla?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Mesilla?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within New Mexico, the closest population matches are Tres Arroyos (1,870 residents, $88,289 income); Thoreau (1,795 residents, $43,953 income); Las Campanas (1,792 residents, $196,023 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are South Fallsburg, NY (1,850 residents); Westville, OK (1,850 residents); Cavalero, WA (1,850 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Mesilla?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
66.7%
Work from home
22.1%
Public transit
2.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 769 workers age 16+.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A
1.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A-
46.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living B+
92.2 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income C-
$73,681
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Mesilla profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 88/100 (A) · 1.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 46.7%
Cost of living: 77/100 (B+) · 92.2 index
Household income: 53/100 (C-) · $73,681
How does Mesilla compare to other US cities?
Here's how Mesilla stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income55% higher than other cities
Home value65% pricier than other cities
Median rent39% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Mesilla against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to New Mexico only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
New Mexico-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Mesilla near the bottom of New Mexico's cities
Among the 409 New Mexico cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mesilla ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mesilla only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#93 of 324
71st percentile in New Mexico
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 409
0th percentile in New Mexico
Median Home Value
#55 of 324
83rd percentile in New Mexico
Poverty Rate
#303 of 408
25th percentile in New Mexico
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#49 of 409
88th percentile in New Mexico
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within New Mexico only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
55th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Mesilla's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$296,20035th percentilemore affordable than 35% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Mesilla's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,765 of 15,516
More affordable than 31% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,409 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.0×, Mesilla sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,765 of 15,516 and #8,409 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$73,681Mesilla, NM median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mesilla, NM median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Mesilla, NM.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)46.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,850
Median Income
$73,681
Median Home Value
$296,200
Median Age
55.1
Poverty Rate
1.7%
Labor force participation
47.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.7%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Mesilla's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,803 residents
2021
1,798 residents
2022
1,785 residents
2023
1,802 residents
2024
1,816 residents
2025
1,818 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.7%
Carpool
3.9%
Public Transit
2.7%
Walk
0.8%
Work from Home
22.1%
Other
3.8%
Based on 769 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
New Mexico statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $167
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across New Mexico at $167 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are New Mexico statewide averages, not a meter reading for Mesilla. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
New Mexico's BEA cost-of-living index is 92.2 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Mesilla is $1,129/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to New Mexico statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 58.9 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a New Mexico statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Mesilla sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mesilla compares to similar-size New Mexico cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.